Took these test portraits in Vancouver at Sugar Studios of Tomasz while helping shoot the cd cover for the new Shy Brothers album. We only took a few photos but they were all pretty good. Is there a modeling future for Tom?

I don’t often post something that’s related to me but I just had to post this. It’s been a busy month for me shooting almost every weekend. I still haven’t had chance to edit some event photos I shot for the Canadian Cancer Society earlier in the month as well as three weddings and two couple shoots. I’ve lost count! I’ll be getting on those this weekend.

So what is this post about? Well…I recently (late last year) picked up road cycling and absolutely love it. So much so I put more kms on the bike than I do the car. Who wants to pay for gas and parking anyways? One reason I’ve been putting off all the updating and editing of photos is due to me trying to fit in bicycle training in preparation for the Whistler Granfondo bicycle ride in September. It’s 120km ride up the Sea to Sky Highway with over 2000m of climbing with probably the same amount of descent. It’s going to be hard. With our awesome unpredictable weather I try to fit in rides 2-3 times a week.

This evening I received my new Shimano RS80 bicycle wheels and was ecstatic! I drove to my parent’s place to pick them up, threw them into the car, and headed over to Colman’s place (thanks Colman) to have him swap my dad’s 12-27 rear cassette onto the new wheels. After that I quickly drove home and attempted to install the new Michelin Pro 3 race tires and tubes onto my bike while I waited for Tom (my photographer buddy) to come over.

The tires were a royal b*tch to put on. Tom called me to say he was coming over and at that time I was just trying to stuff the first tire onto the front wheel. Brute force and a few roughed up fingers later I finally got it on. I was sweating bullets…yes laugh I guess I’m a newb. 25 minutes later Tom arrives while I’m yelling obscenities at my rear wheel. He comments, “what is taking you so long to get it on? This should be super easy.” I give him the “wth do you want to try?” look. Him all smiley he gives a go at it. HAH! He can’t get it either. He then goes on and says, “you sure you got the right size tires? The tire shouldn’t be this far down etc…” I told him I got the first one on after wrestling with the damn thing (wish I had photos of me trying to put it on). So I keep going at it while Tom suggests boiling water and putting it on the wheel (wtf seriously?!). It finally looks like it’s wanting to behave so Tom comes over and we both push and pull on the mofo piece of rubber till finally it was seated. Fun times!

Us both being Vancouver wedding photographers and portrait photographers we thought we’d go out and take some photos. If you’re a wedding photographer you’re pretty much also a lifestyle photographer, it’s all the same thing really. So below are a set of photos that tell a short mini story just after we got the tires on and installed, then out for a spin around Vancouver’s beautiful water front. We strolled out at 11pm in shorts and t-shirts since the weather was surprisingly warm. It happens maybe a handful of times during the year.

Photos were taken by both me and Tom. They have my name on them since I edited them . Our attempt to model is at the very end, gotta practice what we preach right?

This was taken with my iPhone so the quality isn’t great, but you get the idea!

So I’ve finally decided to start my own photography showcase after being in photography for the past six years. Wow it’s been a long time since I started getting into this hobby, an expensive one I might add. I’ve met a lot of great people along the way and it’s made it just that much more exciting. Vancouver wedding photographer Justin Lam at Threesixty Photography who I shoot weddings for, Tom Wagner who I collaborate a lot with, Denny Tang over at Photoshop Tutorials who’s an amazing photoshop genius, as well as many local Vancouver make-up artists and fashion artists. For the longest time I’ve uploaded my own photos onto flickr (Michael Sean Lee photography) and linking clients to them, no more. This site will showcase my best and favorite images. Wedding, portraiture, travel, fashion, scenery, interiors and vehicle photography. Feel free to contact me should you have any questions, want to purchase images, or work together.